Open AccessNeural circuit mechanisms of sensorimotor disability in cancer treatment
Author(s) -
Stephen N. Housley,
Paul Nardelli,
Travis M. Rotterman,
Timothy C. Cope
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2100428118
Subject(s) - sensory system , neuroscience , biological neural network , central pattern generator , peripheral , balance (ability) , spinal cord , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , medicine , rhythm
Significance Severe and persistent disability often undermines the life-saving benefits of cancer treatment. Pain and fatigue, together with sensory, motor, and cognitive disorders, are chief among the constellation of side effects that occur with the platinum-based anticancer agents used in a majority of cancer treatments worldwide. These disabilities remain clinically unmitigated and empirically unexplained as research concentrates on peripheral degeneration of sensory neurons while understating the possible involvement of neural processes within the central nervous system. The present findings demonstrate functional defects in the fundamental properties of information processing localized within the central nervous system. We conclude that long-lasting sensorimotor and possibly other disabilities induced by cancer treatment result from independent neural defects compounded across both peripheral and central nervous systems.